Mer-chan: technocuddly, cute, arty, geeky stuff from Asia and beyond » Fashion

This Bubble Won’t Crash

merchan — Tue, 18 May 2010 10:34:46 +0000

Elaine McLuskey invented the “social spheres” speech bubbles so people could chat above the background noise in a noisy pub. Geekologie says they’re astronaut helmets that will help you get the girl or at least the freeze dried ice cream and Tang. They reminds us of Mer-chan’s canversate, where we try to allow intimate connections even in loud, crowded pubs. When you use it, you can actually feel the other person breathing. A cell phone doesn’t support that type of connection. And we’re in love with the girl in the on the right who is dishing the gossip and vibing Beth Ditto.

Murakami in the Muck

Katy Chang — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:02:00 +0000

Check out McG’s video of Kirsten Dunst in full on sailor moon cosplay, produced by Takashi Murakami, the Superflat artist and Vuitton visionaire. I most enjoyed the wtf faces of the tokyo street kids. Takashi Murakami did great with product placement; I see his blossom flowers everywhere. But poor Kiki looked much better dancing in Bring It On.

Binary Barbie

merchan — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:40:39 +0000

Step aside Rosie the Riveter! There’s a new techno-chic on the bloc. Barbie has a new life as a computer engineer. Women and technology are often at odds in the cultural imagination, so we’re glad to see everybody’s favorite glamor girl geeking out. But will it get more young girls interested in tech careers? The new doll has glasses, a Bluetooth equipped cellphone, and a geektastic t-shirt covered in binary code. We like the concept but the shirt design has a bit of a retro 80s feel. We’ve always thought that Binary Love needs a more classic style: 1’s and <3's forever! Get a shirt for yourself, and a bib for the baby!

Project Gameway

merchan — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:00:30 +0000

Project Runway stomps into its 7th season, finally living the dream of brand extension via video game. Women’s Wear Daily sees the rise of video games targeted at fashionistas. Ubisoft’s Imagine, for little girls, lets them try on professions with games like Fashion Designer, Figure Skater, and Doctor — though I wish they had scientist and computer programmer in there too. Nintendo’s Style Savvy puts you in control as a trendy boutique owner. Jezebel thinks the Project Runway video game can lift up the fashion industry in the way that Rockband and Guitar Hero did for the music industry – “provide an interesting experience for players and a profitable outcome for those holding the licenses.” The problem with that is music has a well-defined bundle of rights that ensure the copyright holder gets paid licensing fees. But fashion is generally not protected under copyright, so the designer would not be compensated.

Javant Garde Meets Cute with Harajuku

merchan — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 07:07:50 +0000

The Washington DC Textile Museum is showing a Contemporary Japanese Fashion exhibit. To kick it off, they teamed up with T-MODE, the organizers of anime and gamer convetions. The result was haute couture combined with cosplay, which results in a harajuku fashion show. It’s interesting to see the influences of design greats such as Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto get filtered down to the likes of Angelic Pretty and MA/MAM. But the inspiration goes both ways, and its undeniable that runways have long been borrowing from street style. Check out the pretty kitty cat walk, but watch out like all goth lolita fash, its got claws!

Nerdy Knits

merchan — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 09:59:21 +0000

For some reason, nerds and knitting go hand and hand, and we love it! Check out Discover Magazine’s slideshow of geek knitting.

Maybe because knit one, purl two is so binary? As someone said, “Knitting makes me happy, computers keep me humble.”

Metaling with Fashion

merchan — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 08:47:15 +0000

Spanish designer and artist Manuel Albarran makes face and head pieces that are both historically rooted and cyberpunk. In a recent interview, he said he’s like to work with Guillermo Del Toro and Ridley Scott. The face masks are unisexy-egalitarian; his models are mainly men.

They remind us of this style of burqa. it had been considered an old-fashioned style worn mainly by older women, but we see more young women wearing these burqas now. And these burqa shades are trying to trade off the revival…um, no.

Chocwalk

merchan — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:04:42 +0000

I thought I was a clever little so and so finally realizing Smarties are not the American artificial sugar candy but naturally flavored and colored chocolate sweets that are a lot like M&M’s without the technicolor (same same but different). But then check out the Rocky Horror Rock Dress by French couturier Eric Tibusch at the Chocolate Show.

The Rocky Horror Rock Dress honors Frankenfurter with a good mix of Michael Jackson spangley military fashion. Mr. Tibusch’s creation used 850 pieces of Revillon chocolate embroidered with lace, nylon and linen. Gives new meaning to Sweet Transvestite, but who can sing with their mouths full anyway.

Coughing up style

merchan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:02:14 +0000

Is it better to scare the flu away or celebrate the swine?

As flu season descends upon the northern hemisphere, the surgical mask is becoming the new must-have accessory. But there is no need to forgo fashion in search of a healthy lifestyle. A current flu pandemic sweeping the Ukraine has led to an explosion of stylish masks, from the cute to the creepy to the whiskered to the wild. A similar collection of images and some excellent mask outfits from Mexico can be also be viewed at the wonderfully titled Pimp My Mask.

But full protection is much more than a good mask. Japan’s Harayuma Trading Co. offers a sleek flu-resistant suit coated in titanium dioxide. The chemical is safe (it’s a common ingredient in toothpaste) and reacts with light to break down any virus it comes in contact with. The suit is advertised as “indistinguishable from any other worn by Japan’s legion of salarymen.” So you can break down the virus while you are still breaking it down on the karaoke stage.

Got Cat Class and Got Cat Style

merchan — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:09:13 +0000

Designer Miho Aoki and Thuy Pham of United Bamboo made cat clothes based on their latest ready to wear designs (for people) and photographed them in a calendar.

The bizarre and cute photos are part of a long history of animals in people’s clothes, which probably started as early was the technology of capturing images. Muybridge took photos of that famous horse — if only it wore a tutu! William Wegman explored fashion with this dogs, dressed them in Jean-Paul Gaultier, Alexander McQueen and Issey Miyake and published a book.